casey sohc

hi i had almost the same problem with my 2009 at 172000km....the engine had a cracked head...that overheated the overflow bottle and broke it...so far i have replaced the overflow bottle because you cant fix it no matter what you use for glue...fiberglass...urethane...silicone...nothing works....anyway i did end up changing the engine. its a known issue these engines much like the G.M. uplander are designed with profits in mind not the customer..and just don't last..as for the starter issue...good luck nobody else has ever fixed one but its not the battery or the starter they are very obvious when they die.... some are the ignition passlock system and the others are the neutral range selector in the transmission..

mine threw the 305 code... i now have changed the engine....it was hooped... for no reason other than hitting 150,000 ish kms i limped it till 173,000 km before it was dumping antifreeze out of the tailpipes

i also have a 1996 dodge ram 2500 diesel long box extra cab 4x4 that has 310000miles (530000 ish km)i tow a 32 foot 5th wheel with it and trust it everywhere last summer we towed from halifax to Quebec city and the truck never skipped a beat...i am loosing faith in the journey, if the mrs didn't like it so much it would have been gone...but as i stated before it rides amazing and is as comfortable as caddy...just dont shut it off...lol

with 170 on it i may be able to trade it for another toyota echo...lol .....now its a matter of figuring out the problem, it is a beautiful car to drive,it handles great,lots of room with 7 seats the 2 kids both of us and the dog have a seat...but what a pain to get information on and work on...the stupid problems and no dealer support when they know the issues..arrgh!i am very much afraid that this is my last north american made family car....i drive a beat to hell 2002 toyota echo to work with 250000km on it and i trust that it will start every time and easy to work on ...plus i paid next to nothing for it.as for trading it in...that would be very dishonest for the next owner..very dishonest. i am looking into the range selector in the transmission now..it could be the issue...but there is almost nothing else to change.

nope!...not the computer the car just had a "no start" my wife called...crap! she turned the key on messed with the gearshifter and it started...here we go again...check the range selector switch.

well the computer..ECM is in and flashed....but i now have a check engine light on.for a low voltage on fuel level #2....wtf is that? apparently the all wheel drive have 2 fuel level indicators..and my new to me ecm is from an awd.. not fwd like ours...time will tell about the starting thing..one good thing the car with new engine and ecm is showing 9.6 l/100 km we have never seen anything better than 11l/100km.. humm maybe there is something good going on...

this engine was at 172000km which is around 110000miles

this is the 3.5 liter v6 and it had issues from the get go..it would knock and make noises sometimes at start up ( not every time,) like it was low on oil...or flat lifters..if you shut it down and started it 3 times the noises went away...i think it suffered from tourettes..it loved oil sometimes ingesting 4-5 liters between changes. but the last straw was the drinking of antifreeze, it broke the coolant bottle,i tried to fix it...nope $89 for a new one then it started overheating and then we purchased another engine that is certified for 3 months unlimited mileage from the auto recyclers.

i found that out myself...our local dealers 3 to choose from cant find thier butts with both hands,and if you cant plug the scanner in they cant fix it...but yes bring it in and check especally if the vin number starts with a 3 that is made in mexico the out of province deaker that i go to are old school and have seen a few mexican ones loose...im not sure if any are made in canada or the states anymore.

yup we tried it all...lock unlock...run around the car with a rubber glove on our heads...nothing works..but if you leave it alone in an hour it starts.i even keep a ratchet with socket to bar the engine over so the starter disengages...nope.

this is a common enough problem for the local dealer to carry 2 in stock...and they don't even carry wipers for the rear in stock.

huh....never thought of that....bwahaahaa.. that was 20 years ago ..it was one of those hold my "beverage" i can get that light out for ya!...the rest was history.

at that time the mazda had a timing chain and the check engine light would come on. and only the dealer could shut them off as far as we could find out it was just a non code and was safe to drive just as annoying as heck.but for a mere $100 they would shut it down...a 1/4" x 12" long drill bit fixed ours when we drilled down through the instrument cluster and into the bulb...no more light.

i like that idea but it wasn't offered when ours was new.